The rate of reports of severe allergic reactions to foods like peanuts has increased by nearly five times over the past decade, according to a new analysis. The increase could be related to the increasing use of antibiotics, rising rates of C-sections that affect the microbiomes of babies, and an increasingly sterile environment, said Hugh Sampson, MD, professor of pediatrics, allergy and immunology, and the dean of translational biomedical research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He is also the director of the Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mount Sinai. All of these situations have altered the good bacteria in our intestinal tracts, which alters the programming of our immune systems. “The analysis showed a greater increase in claims in rural areas than in cities, which surprised me,” Dr. Sampson added.